Spy School: Family Ties

Epilogue

February 28, 2028
Hale Residence
1800 hours

Erica's POV

I watched from the couch as Ben rolled a ball across the ground to Emma. It was going slow. It rolled right into Emma's hands, who pushed it back.

"Good job," Ben said.

He pushed it back, and so did she. This continued on for a little while.

Emma started pushing the ball back with more and more force, to Ben's surprise.

"Woah there, little Hale, you're getting a bit feisty," he said.

Emma stuck out her tongue at him.

I smiled watching them play together. I was happy that Ben had stayed, although truly, I knew that he would never leave. I think he loved me too much.

I went over to the table to get everything set up. We were going to have a family dinner today, with everyone coming over.

I set up the table for 8 (with Emma's baby chair). I got out napkins, plates, bowls, cutlery, and cups. Then I laid out the food. Luckily, the table was quite large. I placed out the salad, steak, bruschetta, potatoes, and fries, as well as ketchup, mayo, mustard, barbecue sauce, and relish. I placed the water pitcher in the middle.

Everything looked good, so I went back over to Ben and Emma. Emma was now just holding on to the ball and looking at it. It was a tennis ball.

"She looks really good," I said to Ben.

"Well, when you have the best father ever it helps," he said.

I swatted him on the head. I looked back over at Emma and was shocked.

"Emma, what the heck??" I said to her. I took the once tennis ball from her. It was now deformed, torn apart at the seams as if a machine had unraveled it.

"Woah, even you couldn't do that," Ben exclaimed to me.

I threw it in the trash and got out a school lock for her. She had proven to do really well with numbers so far.

"35, 17, 30," I said, pointing at the numbers. Emma nodded and I let her try and unlock it.

I heard a knock on the door, and Ben stayed with her as I went to open it.

My whole family stood outside: My grandpa, mother, father, and sister.

I waved at them and they walked in. Trixie went straight over to see Emma. I sat on the couch with my parents and grandparents.

"How's the baby?" My dad asked.

"Proving to be very adept," I said. I pointed at her and everyone looked over just as she unlocked the lock.

"WOOHOOO!" Trixie yelled, seeming pretty excited.

"Wow, even you couldn't do that when you were her age," Grandpa said to me.

"I've heard that too many times," I grumbled, which got a laugh out of some people. I heard another knock on the door, and went over to open it.

Mike stood outside.

"May I come in, Mrs. Hale," he said with a little bow.

"Of course," I said.

I led him to the kitchen and called to the others that it was dinner time.

Grandpa, Mom, Dad and Trixie all sat down with Mike and I.

"Where are Ben and Emma?" Mom asked.